GTX 285... CPU bottleneck or just not as fast as I'd hoped?

[evilspoons]

So I have a BFG Geforce GTX 285, 1 GB I believe. My PC has a Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ stock speed (wasn't able to overclock, somewhat pissed at that, I bought the wrong stepping way back when.)

Is the GTX 285 being held back by my Q6600? It feels like a lot of games have to have detail reduced to run smoothly. They still look GOOD, but for some reason it feels like they should be OK at higher levels. For instance, Dead Rising 2 runs smoothly at 1600x900 but at 1920x1200 it gets pretty crunchy when there's lots of zombies on screen.

The main reason I'm thinking about this is I plan on replacing the Q6600 with an i7-2600K as soon as is financially possible... but maybe I should buy an i5-2500K instead and a new video card too? Thoughts?

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Yeah the 285 is no slouch and should run games just fine at 1080P. If you want to see where you should be performing, look at GTX460 results, the 285 trades blows with that.

What motherboard and chipset do you have? I've never heard of a Q6600 that you couldn't overclock AT ALL.

 

[evilspoons]

Here is a thread about my last attempt to overclock the sucker:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2112246

It's an Asus Striker Extreme (Nvidia 680i) FWIW.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

680i. I see... I've heard nothing but grief about that particular chipset.

There is a reason Nvidia's Chipsets haven't been missed.

New CPU would do wonders for your GTX285, and Core 2's love the OCing.

My Q9550 was bottlenecking the hell out of my GTX460 even at 3.4Ghz, where it kept my 460 at the same speed as my now deceased HD5770. Upped the core speed to 3.8 Ghz and now my 460 can finally stretch its legs. Imagine how cramped your 285 must be with a Q6600...

 

[happy medium]

My Q9550 was bottlenecking the hell out of my GTX460 even at 3.4Ghz

No freaking way man, a q9550 @ 3.4 will power a gtx580 just fine.
The only way it might bottleneck some is if you were using a low resolution monitor.

 

[happy medium]

For instance, Dead Rising 2 runs smoothly at 1600x900 but at 1920x1200 it gets pretty crunchy

Thats a gpu bottleneck not a cpu bottleneck.
Overclock the gtx285.

It feels like a lot of games have to have detail reduced to run smoothly

Thats a gpu bottleneck also.

 

[Skurge]

No freaking way man, a q9550 @ 3.4 will power a gtx580 just fine.
The only way it might bottleneck some is if you were using a low resolution monitor.

You think he is lying?

Benchmarks agree with him.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/cpus-and-games-2010_4.html#sect0

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/49?vs=109

The i5 and the q9650 are close enough.

 

[happy medium]

You think he is lying?

Benchmarks agree with him.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/cpus-and-games-2010_4.html#sect0

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/49?vs=109

The i5 and the q9650 are close enough.

I know hes lying ,trust me. please dont go by my signiture.

ANd those links dont mean crap. read em again.

 

[evilspoons]

Thats a gpu bottleneck not a cpu bottleneck.
Overclock the gtx285.

I forgot to mention that Civilization V just generally runs like crap (low frame rates) after an hour or so of gameplay and Crysis... well, it's Crysis, I guess, but I'm not getting playable frame rates at lower resolutions (1680x1050, 1440x900) unless I turn the detail below medium.

Other games (i.e. Left 4 Dead 2) are fantastic.

 

[happy medium]

(low frame rates) after an hour or so of gameplay

That sounds like a temperature/psu problem, mabe?
I think Civ 5 is cpu intensive, read post #4 please.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2110623

 

[bryanW1995]

I forgot to mention that Civilization V just generally runs like crap (low frame rates) after an hour or so of gameplay and Crysis... well, it's Crysis, I guess, but I'm not getting playable frame rates at lower resolutions (1680x1050, 1440x900) unless I turn the detail below medium.

Other games (i.e. Left 4 Dead 2) are fantastic.

civ 5 is slowing down after an hour b/c that game is EXTREMELY cpu-dependent. any decent dx 11 gpu is fine (5770 or better) for it, but a q6600 @ stock won't run it very well. in most gaming situations you'd be good.

edit: just remembered that dx10 nvidia cards have had serious issues with civ5. I don't remember who wrote it up, but there is a simple fix for it. civfanatics has info on it under technical issues iirc.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My Q9550 was bottlenecking the hell out of my GTX460 even at 3.4Ghz, where it kept my 460 at the same speed as my now deceased HD5770. Upped the core speed to 3.8 Ghz and now my 460 can finally stretch its legs. Imagine how cramped your 285 must be with a Q6600...

You're kidding me, right? I built my BIL's machine with a Q9550 @ 3.5, and a pair of HD6870 cards in CF. Since a single HD6870 should be more powerful than a single GTX460, then he should be severely bottlenecked.

How come no-one spoke up about this when I posted my thread when I built this rig? Several people said it would be fine.


Edit: Yes, he has a 1080P monitor.

 

[happy medium]

You're kidding me, right? I built my BIL's machine with a Q9550 @ 3.5, and a pair of HD6870 cards in CF. Since a single HD6870 should be more powerful than a single GTX460, then he should be severely bottlenecked.

How come no-one spoke up about this when I posted my thread when I built this rig? Several people said it would be fine.

I hope your kidding. Your brother Bill has a fine well balanced rig.
1080p monitor right?

 

[BFG10K]

It feels like a lot of games have to have detail reduced to run smoothly. They still look GOOD, but for some reason it feels like they should be OK at higher levels. For instance, Dead Rising 2 runs smoothly at 1600x900 but at 1920x1200 it gets pretty crunchy when there's lots of zombies on screen.

CPU load is constant regardless of resolution, so your graphics card is clearly the bottleneck here.

I found the same thing where underlocking my dual-core E6850 down to 2 GHz barely impacted performance on my GTX285, but the same 33% underclock to the GTX285 usually reduced performance linearly.

 

[RussianSensation]

For instance, Dead Rising 2 runs smoothly at 1600x900 but at 1920x1200 it gets pretty crunchy when there's lots of zombies on screen.

GTX285 gets 51 fps average at 1920x1020 Very High quality in this game.

I am going to translate this part of the review for you:
http://www.gamegpu.ru/action-/-fps-/-tps/dead-rising-2-test-gpu.html

"To ensure smooth playability in this game, you are going to need a Core 2 Duo 2.93ghz".

Overclock your CPU to 3.0ghz and see if it fixes anything.